Roger Miklos was a former American police officer who later became a renowned treasure hunter and TV celebrity. He was born in Summerland Key, Florida, on January 6th, 1941, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived most of his life in California. He was best known for his search for the remains of a Nazi U-boat that he claimed to have found in 1981, packed with billions of dollars’ worth of looted treasures.
From Cop to Treasure Hunter
Before venturing into treasure hunting, Roger was a police officer in Reno, Nevada. He also worked along with the DEA in Nassau, Bahamas. He developed a passion for nautical exploration and started to search for coins in the ocean with metal detectors, relying on the knowledge he had acquired from books. He later met Kip Wagner, a famous treasure hunter who offered him a job and mentored him. Roger became a professional treasure hunter and joined the original team that discovered the Spanish shipwreck, the Atocha, in 1985.
The Mystery of the U-boat
Roger’s most controversial and intriguing discovery was a Nazi U-boat that he claimed to have located off the Turks and Caicos Islands near the Bahamas in 1981. He said that the submarine was one of the nine secret vessels that Adolf Hitler had commanded to transport looted gold, art, and Nazi officers out of Germany to South America at the end of World War 2. Roger said that he saw crates of gold bars, paintings, and other valuables inside the sunken U-boat, but he never revealed the exact location of his find, fearing that other treasure hunters would steal it.
Roger’s story was met with skepticism and criticism by many experts and historians, who doubted the existence and authenticity of the U-boat. They argued that there was no evidence or records of such a secret fleet, and that Roger’s claims were based on hearsay and speculation. They also questioned why Roger never recovered any of the treasures or provided any proof of his discovery.
The Legacy of Roger Miklos
Roger died in July 2018 at the age of 77, leaving behind a legacy of adventure and mystery. He was featured in the hit TV show “Cooper’s Treasure”, which followed his son Darrell Miklos, who inherited his father’s maps and clues to the U-boat. Darrell continued his father’s quest and tried to locate and verify the U-boat, with the help of Jon Christiansen, the captain of Roger’s boat, the Heather Glynn, who sailed with him in 1981 and turned over his logbook to Darrell.
Roger Miklos was a personality whose exploits left a lasting impression on treasure hunting and nautical exploration. His life, marked by passion and persistence, wove together the threads of history, treasure, and fame. He was a man who searched for Nazi gold and became a legend in his own right.